Method of and article for alloying tungsten



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN HOWARD DEPPELER, OF WEEHAWKEN, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO METAL 85 THERMIT CORPORATION, OF CHROME, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW METHOD OF AND ARTICLE FOR ALLOYING TUNGSTEN.

' JERSEY.

1,350,709, Specification of Letters Patent.

No Drawing.

This invention relates to the formation of alloys of tungsten with other metals, moreparticularly iron and steel, and has for its object to provide a new and efficient mode of applying tungsten powder to the mixture, to form the alloy, in such form that the tungsten will be properly admixed with the other metal without loss. Prior to my invention the introduction of tungsten into molten baths to form alloys, especially in the manufacture of tungsten steels, has been attended with considerable difficulty and material losses of the tungsten. .Because of the extremely high melting point of the metal tungsten rendering it impossible to fuse the same before adding it to the other alloying metal or metals, it has been customary to supply the requisite amount of tungsten in the form of powder. The tungsten in powdered form tends to float on the top of the molten metal on account of its large surface area and is, therefore, subject to oxidation and loss in the slag. Various modes of procedure have been suggested to obviateithese difficulties, such as placin the powdered tungsten in sheet iron contalners on the bottom of the melting vessel and subsequently melting the tungsten powder together with the other metal or metals with which it is to be alloyed, or in the alternative, the tungsten powder in the sheet iron containers is submerged in the molten metal bath. In both cases, however, the container tends to melt first, thereby freeing the tungsten powder which will rise to the top of the bath where it is subject to oxidation or is liable to be carried off in the slag.

The present invention is designed to ob- Patented Aug. 24, 1920.

Application filed October 28, 1919. Serial No. 333,870.

viate these difficulties and to provide a novel mode of procedure, which involves the formation of the metallic powdered tungsten into tablets or other suitable forms, under high pressure, which will condense the metal into dense, coherent, self-sustaining bodies of greatly reduced surface area as compared with the loose powder and which bodies of tungsten are of higher specific gravity than the molten metal, so that they will sink through the same when added to a molten metal bath, and will not rise through the molten metal when the tungsten tablets have been added to the other metal prior to melting the same, as, for example, in an electric furnace. It will be apparent, therefore, that while the tungsten is still in an ideal condition for effectively alloying with the other molten metal or metals, as it is still in powdered form, it will, nevertheless, be wholly submerged within the molten bath during the alloying operation and consequently will be protected against oxidation and loss in the slag. In this way the entire amount of tungsten will be taken up by the molten metal to form the desired alloy without loss of any portion of the tungsten.

What I claim is:

1. The method of forming an alloy of tungsten with another metal which comprises compressing tungsten' powder into dense, coherent, self-sustaining tablets, and adding the tablets to the alloying metal.

2. The method of forming an alloy of tungsten with another metal which comprises compressing tungsten powder into dense, coherent, self-sustaining tablets, and adding the tablets to a molten bath of the alloying metal.

3. An article of manufacture for use in forming tungsten alloys consisting of tungsten powder in dense, coherent, tabloid form.

Signed at Jersey City, in the county of Hudson and State of New Jersey this 18 day of October, A. D. 1919. JOHN HOWARD DEPPELEB. 

